1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to the art of cooking appliances and, more particularly, to a cooking appliance incorporating a low profile gas burner assembly.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
In general, it is known to utilize gas as a heat source in a cooking appliance. Typically, the gas heat source is in the form of a gas burner assembly located at a bottom portion of an oven cavity, either out in the open or, below a false bottom panel. In some cases, another gas burner assembly is positioned in an upper portion of the oven cavity for broiling operations. In any event, oven designs require sufficient space to accommodate one or more gas burner assemblies.
Conventionally, oven cavities are designed with a considerable amount of space allocated for the gas burner assembly. In a manner known in the art, inlet and outlet portions of the gas burner assembly are maintained in a well defined spaced relationship. More specifically, a conventional gas burner assembly is designed such that a vertical distance of at least 3 inches (7.62 cm) separates the inlet portion from the outlet portion. This distance requirement has been seen as necessary to avoid the negative effects associated with a reverse density driven flow which occurs when the cooking appliance is hot and gas flow to the burner is off. In the event of a reverse density driven flow, combustion of the gas takes place at the inlet portion of the burner assembly and not at gas discharge ports arranged along the outlet portion.
Unfortunately, while effective at eliminating adverse effects of the reverse density driven flow, the space between the inlet and outlet means that more space is needed for the burner assembly which, in turn, disadvantageously results in a reduction in oven cavity size. This is especially true in dual oven ranges wherein the space required to accommodate multiple gas burner assemblies in two oven cavities reduces the overall space available within each oven cavity. In the highly competitive field of cooking appliances, manufacturers often desire to provide more space, in smaller packages, to attract the buying public. Therefore, based on the above, there exists a need in the art for a cooking appliance designed to enable an enhanced oven cavity size. More specifically, there exists a need in the art for a low profile gas burner assembly designed to establish an enlarged oven cavity. Particularly, there exists a need for a low profile gas burner assembly having an inlet portion and an outlet portion separated by a distance less than the conventional 3 inches (7.62 cm) that does not suffer from the effects of a reverse density driven flow.